My list so far. I made a couple of mistakes. Like I bought jar sauce at Aldi versus Save A Lot, so overpaid by $.40.

Also grabbed a fruit gel (gelatin with fruit) at Save A Lot and then realized I only had 1, so bought 1 at Aldi, so overpaid there $.20 (Not at Aldi but at Save A Lot). Not to mention that I alternate fruit gel and plain gelatin every other week. The plain is refrigerated and costs less.

I didn't buy the $.99 bread yet, but will next trip for a total of 3 loaves of bread for the week.

I bought yogurt at both places because the sale yogurt at Save A Lot didn't include Miranda's favorite flavor. So so overpaid by $.36 total because of them being out of strawberry banana.

Also goofed on granola bars. I bought them at Save A Lot 2 for $4 but they're only $1.79.each box at Aldi. So $.22 overpaid there.

($1.18 overpaid total by choosing the wrong store)

Sadly while milk was still on sale, eggs were not on sale this week at Aldi. I didn't buy eggs yet.

This is also a week where I was depleted of some things we normally have like ketchup and freezer bags. I'm trying cheaper hot dogs this week. They're still beef, but not the natural casing type I usually buy which cost almost triple the amount.

I will need more eggs, sugar, apples, applesauce, shampoo and toothpaste still for sure before the end of the week. So that's not in my total yet, BUT I bought enough food to cover two weeks of dinners. So next week groceries will be far less. I almost always have $20-25 that is spent in an additional trip toward the end of the week.

When I look at things like seasoning packets, I do wonder if I should make them myself, but at the low price, I tend to think why? I'd have to buy all the ingredients to mix it up. I need to evaluate how much that would cost and how much it would make. And I think I really need to stop buying the chicken nuggets and frozen ravioli. I buy them for the nights that Ally and Zach aren't here because the younger kids love them. But for the price of both those items, we could do something better. This is the area that I was talking about when I said, there are so many things I need to re-evaluate and come up with better solutions.

Might be wondering why I didn't buy all the cereal at the lower price and that's because there's only two kinds at that price and I try to buy 4 different types of cereal for variety. I won't need to buy any next week.

The noodle packs are just because I like to have a few packages of convenience noodles or rice as sides sometimes. Those aren't always on my list. I still buy rice that I cook in the rice cooker here, but it's nice to have the insta type, too. They're cheap, but could be eliminated.

There's a lot of extra chips this week. That's hoping they last longer than two weeks. LOL Probably not.

I'll post our dinners later, too. But basically it will be beef, pasta, pork, chicken, wraps of some type (tacos, quesadillas or chicken casesar wraps), chili, breakfast for dinner and casserole, pizza night or leftovers which is often leftovers LOL

I made a menu plan for this week, and made chili in the pressure cooker for supper. Used up leftover grated zucchini and kidney beans from my freezer. Didn't have canned tomatoes to used half the can of crushed tomatoes with a cup of water added. Didn't have mushrooms, so threw in some green pepper and celery instead. It tasted fine.

I saw Save A Lot has bone-in split chicken breasts on sale Thursday for $.88/lb. I'm going to pick-up a couple of packages. That will put me over my budget, but it's cheaper for my 3rd week of the month shopping trip. If I can get a large enough package (sometimes they don't package enough for family of 6 per package), it will cover two days of my third week dinners and should help bring my monthly total down. But I will need pet food soon and that sort of bums me out. LOL Coffee was on sale and only $7.99, so I picked one up and that was good. But let me tell ya, I can't help but think about cutting coffee. I wish I didn't love it so much.

DS12 texted me this morning and said that when I make his sandwiches the night before, the bread gets hard and it doesn't taste good and is harder to eat. He's not wrong. However, I don't have the time in the morning to make it, and neither does he. He's the main reason I used to buy the Lunchables because he has an enormous appetite and his lunchbox is packed to the gills and he doesn't bring PBJ because his friend is allergic to peanuts, so it's just a jelly sandwich, so I almost wonder if the lunchable is almost more "nutritious" than the jelly sandwich, aka, sugar sandwich. Not sure how I'm going to proceed with this next week.

Just got the split chicken breasts on sale from Save A Lot for $.88/lb. We bought 4 packages roughly 4lbs each package. Whole chickens are on sale at Kroger $.79 this week. I normally pay $.95/lb at Aldi for whole chickens. I'm deciding on whether I will pick one or two up. We go through a lot of chicken and it's not often I can get it for less. Thighs, leg quarters and drumsticks, yes. Split breasts and whole chicken, not so much.

8 Granny Smith apples for $2.89 total3.45 lb bananas for $1.52 total ($.44/lb)4 cans beef stew for $1.75 each4 cans Chicken and Dumplings for $1.99 each (totally worth it for dinner for 6 people at a total of $8.00)Aldi brand Pringles $1.99 (impulse buy...remind me not to take Tiny with me next time)2 boxes Aldi brand of the Kellogg's Pastry Crisps we buy...here's hoping they like them because they are WAY cheaper for $1.99 each1 box sandwich bags $1.991 box Savoritz, which is the Aldi brand of Cheez-Its which my kids LOVE for $1.992 bags Aldi brand of Fritos for $.99 each...gonna individually bag them for lunches...will save a buck or two...we'll see if I feel like my time is worth it1 jar grape jelly $1.49

Grocery shop for next week phase 2, complete. I did NOT do as well as I had hoped, however, I have DD's mock trial team coming over tonight, and when a bunch of teenagers are coming to your house, you prepare. So, the chips and cheetos and soda for tonight and bagels and cream cheese and butter and OJ for tomorrow morning are not usually on my list, but you gotta feed those brains!

Total before sales and coupons: $261.35Total after sales and coupons: $187.37.

My shopping total for today: $221.29My total for January: $604.14My average for January: 201.38 - I am over by $1.38. I believe I can make that up next week. I'm still feeling pretty good about this goal, even though I'm over for the month. I decided not to buy DS12 the lunchables and I also didn't buy DS5 Uncrustables. Although it feels very wasteful, I'll just cut off his crusts, and will probably just make DS12's sandwiches in the morning. I just don't want to spend the extra money on the convenience.

Next week's shopping should be quite low because we will definitely have leftover pizza for Monday night and my parents are taking us out tomorrow night, so we are already two nights ahead of the game on the dinner making front, which means less I'll have to buy. Also, with DH and DS12 out of town until Monday, our food might last a little longer this week.

Got $1.50 back on Checkout51Got $1.00 back on iBotta (referral code vgylxjm)

But I still need ground beef (wish I bought 3 packs versus 2 when it was on sale but I thought it would be still there and they were out and sale ended today) and I'm sure I will need more produce. I didn't get it all yet. Still using up some.

I didn't want to buy apples until the grapes are eaten. There are clementines to eat, too. I will need baby carrots. I'll update

This shopping is higher because we decided to get two more packages of chicken.

My oops of the week was heavy cream at Save A Lot. It was only $1.69 at Aldi. grrrr and the ice cream $2.99 and box of cones for $2.79 at Kroger because of my competitive side. LOL

$121.32

On the positive side, I'm doing well with the chicken putting us ahead meat-wise. I will try to organize my meal plan for next week and refine my meal plan for this upcoming week.

EDITED. I just noticed I typo'd the clementines. They're not that low. I accidentally looked at the product above on my receipt. They're $3.79. Updating my price tally.

I'm so jealous of your $.99 pretzels. I'd buy four bags and finally have a week where we didn't run out. And the $1.09 milk at Aldi...was that a gallon??? And, I look for the cheese sticks every time I'm there and I can never find them. $2.79 would be a great savings for me on those, and they go in lunchboxes and DS5 loves them. So do I.

How big is your Aldi? Mine is teeny tiny. The one where I went to college was little, too, and I'm wondering if they are all the same size or if some are bigger than others.

If I went to let's say Walgreens or Meijer (the big chain), I'd pay some outrageous price, but Walmart and Aldi compete on milk prices now. We have a Spartan store that sells it just slightly above $2 (but sells it less sometimes and they keep it right next to the checkout) and ranks 3rd and Save A Lot which was the cheapest now ranks 4th at $2.49! I refuse to go to Meijer for milk and barely ever even go into their store anymore. There has to be something great on sale to get me in there. Aldi will have milk up to I believe it's $1.25? But I haven't seen it higher there recently. They have eggs super cheap some weeks, too. Not this week. Save A Lot beat them this week at $.79 for a dozen.

We used to always buy the giant package of cheese string at Walmart (gosh I can't remember the price but it was not cheap), but since I haven't been there lately, I buy it at Aldi which is less than Save A Lot for string cheese. I should price check against Walmart. This is a little package of only 12 at Aldi. It's located in our store on the very top shelf to the left of the block cheese. It's very easy to miss and even I have to hunt for it sometimes.

Our Aldi is small. It's smaller than Save A Lot and Save A Lot is pretty small with only I believe it's 5 aisles (counting the two side outer aisles), but not including the back aisle with dairy and meats and the very front aisle with breads, some snacks, and bakery items and not much else because of the registers. So I guess you can call it 7 aisles. Aldi has half aisles and it's kind of chopped up and they have an aisle with home goods, so I don't even go down those aisles. I'd say they have 5 aisles if you count the half aisles as one aisle.

@amyboz Your bananas are cheaper there this week. They're $.54/lb here this week. The pretzels at Aldi are only a little bit higher in price here than Save A Lot. I believe they're $1.19? I should double-check the size. It looked the same size, but maybe it's not. Save A Lot pretzel bags are only 12oz bags. I should put sizes on my list.

I need a good vegetable sale soon. I have a somewhat decent stash of canned (corn and peas). But not much frozen and almost out of fresh. I'm going to make do with using what I have and not buy more until at least next week.

Oh and I forgot to add another 9 rolls of toilet paper from Walgreens. 9 mega rolls $4.99